Cleaning apparatus for rugs, carpets, and other heavy fabrics



E. GARMSEN Nov. 10, 1931.

CLEANING APPARATUS FOR RUGS, CARPETS, AND OTHER HEAVY FABRICS 20, 1930 5 Shee,tsSheet 1 Filed Feb q N "3 E GflF/ IJEN INVENTOR.

' ATTORNEY E. GARMSEN Nov. 10, 1931.

Filed Feb. 20, 1930 '3 Sheets-Sheet 2 II! II Ill- 5 flEMSEA/ INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY 1931- E. GARMSEN 1,831,298

CLEANING APPARATUS FOR BUGS, CARPETS, AND OTHER HEAVY FABR'i-GS Z. GA/PMSEN INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY Patented Nov. 10, 1931 Emir. GARMSEN, or DA ENPORT, IOWA CLEANING APPARATUS non uss, cAnrnrs'Am) OTHER HEAvir FABRICS Application filed February '20, 1930. SeriaLNo 429,968.

The present invention pertains to appa ratus for cleaning heavy fabrics such as rugs and carpets. This device may also be used in the cleaning of heavy portieres and the l like. 7

Among the objects of this invention are to provide an apparatus for the purpose indicated which will be simple in its construction and inexpensive to manufacture; to pro- 10 vide an apparatus of the character indicated which will be easily operated and will be effective for its intended purpose; to provide an apparatus which will be more effective in thecleaning of fabrics than, are the strucll tures heretofore manufactured; to provide an apparatus of the character indicated which will, after being put into operation be entirely automatic in the cleaning of the fabrics; to provide an apparatus of the char- 9. acter indicated in which the fabric supporting drum will not be directly driven from the power unit but will be indirectly driven by the: beater-elements; to provide an apparatus of the character indicated having means for causing air circulation through the 'interior of the rug during the cleaning operation; and such further objects,. advantages and capabilities as will hereafter appear and as are inherent in the construction disclosed. My invention further resides in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and, while I have shown therein what is now considered the preferred embodiment of this invention.,I desire the same to be understood as illustrative only and not to be interpreted. in a limiting sense.

In the drawings annexed heretoand form ing a part, hereof, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal, vertical section, substantially centrally through the apparatus, showing a mechanism in accordance with my present invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional plan view substantially along the plane indicated by the line 2-2, 1; is can elevationon a larger scale than that shown in Figs. 1

and 2 of thedrawings of the drum upon which the fabric to be cleaned is mounted;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section through thecon-- struction as illustrated inF ig. 3, substantially along the plane indicated by the kneeof that figure; Fig. 5' is a transverse sec tion substantially. along the plane indicated by the line 5-5,.Fig. 3'; Fig. '6 isa plan view of a modified form of this construction illus-. trating the use of a plurality of drumsfor the holding of the fabrics so that there can; be continuous operation of the device, one rug or carpet being changed while two others are being cleaned.

In the past the. most. common methodof cleaning rugs has been to spread them outon grass and beat them- .by hand or hangthemover a rope or other support and beat them. Another method of cleaning certain fabrics is illustrated by Roberts"Patent No. 1,231,940

in which the mg or carpet is moved about ahorizontal axis and beaten on the inside to. jar the dust loose on the outside. None of I H these methods have provcn entirely satisto factory and I have therefore developed the;

- present method and meansv for cleaning rugs,

carpets and other like heavy fabrics in which quantities of dust accumulate. An important part of thisinventionis the mounting of the fabric in a vertical position so that dirt j arred loose therefrom may move in a vertical direction away from the fabric. Another important part of this invention is theprovision. of means for forcing an air current through the cylinder upon which the fabric 'is'mounted" so as to blow floating dust out of the interiorof the cylinder; replacing the dust laden air with fresh clean air-from outside. Another" important element ofthis invention is the: strikingof the fabric. by beater elements in such a manner that the blow will be sharp and quick, thus jolting the dust and dirt loose. Another important idea is that of being able 7 to move the cylinder from avertical to a horizontal positionin which the fabricv can. be easilya'pplied to or'removed from the drum upon which it is carried when being cleaned. Another important idea is the absolute simplicity of the entire mechanism. Another important idea is that ofbeing able to clean} a plurality of fabrics. at one time making-'- the operation a continuous one, the; person operating the machine being able to remove a cleaned fabric and substitute another toibe i e cleaned without the necessity of stopping the operation of the machine.

Referring more in detail to the annexed drawings, the supporting frame for the machine is denoted by the numeral 1 and the overhead support by the'numeral 2. This may be and preferably is an overhead portion of a building in which the device is housed. Any suitable motive means 3, such as electric or gasoline motor may be provided. Between this and the shaft 5 of the beater element 6 are suitable transmitting means 4. From this it will be seen that as the driving means 3 operates, the shaft 5 will becaused to rotate on' its vertical axis in its bearings 7 and 8. In order to reduce power losses by-reason of friction, both thrust and lateral bearings of suitable type may be provided in. the bearing 7 Preferably, such will consist of ball ofroller bearings. While the bearing 8 is shown as mounted upon a framework 9 supported from the overhead support 2, it will be understood that this bearing may be mounted directly upon the overhead support if desired.

Frame elements 10 are shown as connected with the frame member 1 and there is shown between these frame elements and below the fabric supporting drum a pan 11 containing water or the like for the collection of dust and dirt passing downwardly through the cylinder during the cleaning operation. Resting upon the frame elements 10 is a supporting member 12 which, asshown in Figs. 1- and 2, is hinged to one of .the members 10 so that when the cylinder is. lowered into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1 thesame will be held upwardly away from the floor. Fixedly secured to the supporting member 12 is a shaft 13 which is provided with an adjustable supporting ring 14 which may be secured in position inany desired manner as, forexample. by means of a set screw. Restmg upon this collar 14 is a bearing element 15 constituting part of a thrust bearing for supporting the weight of the cylinder and rug, the same making it possible for the supporting cylinder to rotate readily about the shaft 13. Near its upper end, the shaft 13 is provided with a collar 16 similar to collar 14 and this is adjustably held in place in the same manner as collar 14. Upon the collar 16 is a thrust bearing 17, similar to the one described above. whose purpose is to sustain a portion of the weight of the device durin the operation of the machine. The shaft 13 passes through bearing blocks 18 suitably secured in the end elements of the drum or cylinder. It'will therefore be seen that the drum-1s supported in a substantially frictionles s *manner I and that the same may turn easlly under the influence of an applied force. The drum comprises a pair of end elements 19 connected by longitudinal ribs 20 and coiled springs 21. For conveniencathe lower member of the drum-or cylinder is denoted by the numeral 19a. Each of these members is made up of four sections, each of which has two substantially radial arms arranged at substantially from each other, the outer extremities of the arms being connected by quadrants. Adjacent radial arms a e secured together in any suitable manner as by rivets 22. The upper radial arms 23 have blades 24 inserted between them and held in piece by the fastening means 22 which pass through openings in an edge of eachblade. As indicated in Fig.1 the blades are bent at an angle so that as the drun'i is rotated these blades will act as a fan to drive air downwardly through the interior of the drum. An inwardly inclined flange 25 is formed on an edge of the'ring 19a, and this'tends to deflect the air inwardly toward theshaft 13 as it is forced downwardly by the blades 24. The air passing in this way has atendency to strike the waterv in the pan 11 and drop its dust there so that there will not beso much passing outwardly into the air of the room. Any suitable number of coiled springs 21 may connect the heads 19 and 19ato serve as suitable supporting means for the rug when it is being mounted upon the drum in the hori- Zontal dotted line position shown in Fig. 1 or at any other time when such support may be needed. As indicated at 26, the longitudinal bars or ribs 20 are connected in pairs to assist in making the structure rigid. Atten. tion is called to the fact that one pair of these bars do'not have any connecting means between the two heads 19 and 19a. Also, these bars areheld in spaced relation so as to leave room for a. portion of the rug to extend inwardly between them. A plurality of hooks 27 are secured to. or formed along an edge of one of these bars, as shown in Fig-4, to permit the attachmen of an edge of the rug. This attachment may either be made by hookim the edge of the rug directly upon the hoolrs 27 or by securing suitable loops to an edge of the rug in positions to engagethe hooks. The rug is indicated in Fi 4 by the numeral 28 and the part thereof which ex ceeds that required togo around the drum is indicated bythe numeral29. This latter extends into the interior of the drum. If the length of the rug is greater than the circumference of the drum, as illustrated in Fig. 4, it will be'necessary to remove the rug from the drum, after it has been cleaned in one position, and then turn it end for end so that the portion 29 may be connected to the hooks 27 and the other endinserted into. the interior of the drum[ In this way, the entire rug may be cleaned. Inasmuch as the appara us may be made in any desired size, it will be understood that it can be made large enough. to accommodate large sized rugs. Since the most common size of rug is 9 ft. X 12 ft., most of these machines will be made to accommo- IQU tional power in the lifting of the cylinder and rug when this is in the position where it is date that size, though they can be. made pto takelarger sized rugs,if desired. a If it isade-q ber 12 while the other end thereof is sup- 'ported by the support 30. It will therefore be understood that the drum may be turned about the. shaft 13 as an axiswhile remov ing a rug therefrom or placing one thereon.

When a rug has been put in'place as indicated in'F-igs. 3 and 4, the straps 31 are put around the rug and the fasteners 32'are fastoned to hold the rug in place. The cylinder is then ready to be raised to the full line position shown in Fig. 1 and this is done by pulling onthe rope 33 until the cylinder is raised part way. This rope passes through the blocks-33d and 33b and therefore gives addi hardest to lift. After the cylinder or drum has been raised part way, the operatorthen pulls on the rope 34 which pulls the cylinder up through the intermediate dotted position shown in Fig. 1. and into the fullline positionshown in this figure. provided to maintain the rope 34 in-a tight position at all times. However, this is :not necessary and'may be omitted, if desired. A bracket- 37 secured to a cross bar 38 onthe frame 9 serves to hold the shaft 13 against that frame and prevents lateral'swinging or tipping of the shaft. The rope 34, passing over the pulley 39 tends'to hold the shaft 13 in place between the arm 37 and the frame 9.

However, this is really unnecessary in view of the fact that the weight of the drum and rug has enough tendency in this direction'so that no particular stress needs to be put upon the rope 34: to hold the shaft in place.

When the drum is in the full line position shown in Fig. land has a rug mounted thereon as shown in Fig. 3, the apparatus is ready to operate and the motive means 3 is then started. Through the transmission means 4, this causes the shaft 5 to rotate. Any suit-' able number-of, beater units 40 may be attached to the shaft" 5. I prefer to have four V arms arranged radially in a plane about the shaft 5 and then have such arms spaced suitable distances along the shaft. I prefer to form these arms of straps, the ends of which are passed through chain links 41 and then doubled back and secured by a rivet or any other suitable means. This makes the-ends ofthese beater arms heavy so that as the shaft 5 is rotated rapidly the links 41 will strike a sharp blow upon the-rug. These ;arms are just short enough so that the links A weight 35 is 41 cannot damage the fabricby pinching. it bet-ween the'links and the longitudinal .bars 20. 7 Normally, the rug hangsloosely. enough on the drum so that as the beater unit aretates, the links a1 strike the surface of the rug and start the drum to rotating. Asit r0.-v

tates, the rug is expanded somewhatby centrifugal force and somewhat by the air which is forced downwardly through-the cylinder blows will-be short and sharp and have a maximum tendency to jar the dust loose.l The current ofair passing down through thedrum carries the dust from the inside of the rug downwardly andv out of the rug so that there is no tendency foritto settle again upon the surface of the rug. if i The structure shown in Fig. 6 is; the same as that shown in the other figures except that there are a pluralityof the rug carrying drums. arranged around the beater unit so that one or more ofthese may be used. ata time. In sequence operations, one drum may be loaded and then put into operating position and the cleaning operation partly carried out while the nex drum is being loaded.v ,lVhen this is ready, it is raised into operating position and the beater then acts upon this as well as'upon the one whichwas first set into operation. Thebeating of these two rugs may continue while the-thirdcyh inder is being loaded andnbeing put into operation. lVhen this is started, the rug on the firstcylinder may be sufiiciently clean sothat the cylinder maybe tipped over into loading and unloading position. If a partof. vthe rug was inslde of the drum so that it did not get cleaned, it may be removed from the ifithere, is another rug ready to take its place,

this may bemounted upon the drum and The drum mayraised into operatingposition. It willbe seen from the foregoing that the entire work of the operator is that of loading andunloading the cylinders, raising'them into operating position and lowering them.therefroimand, f

when necessary, starting or stopping the operating motor. As a source of power-,1 have found a kerosene motor the most economicalQ It is of course understood that the specific descriptionof structure and-methodset forth above may be departed from without departing. from the spirit of my invention. as

set forth in this specification and the append ed claims.

Having. now described my invention, I claim:'.

, 1. In a cleaning machine for heavy fabrics, a supportingframe, a substantially vertically extending axle on the frame, a vertically ex-' tending drum mounted on the axle to rotate thereabout, and a rotatable beater unit having beating elements to strike a fabric car ried by the drum, the ends of the beating elements, when the beater unit is rotated, passing close to but out of contact with the drum.

2. In a fabric clcaning'machine, the coxn bination of supporting means, a supporting unit pivotally connected thereto to be swung in a substantially vertical direction, an axle rigidly carried by said supporting unit, a

drum mounted on said axle for rotation thereabout when the axle is in either vertical or horizontal positioin-ancl means mounted adjacent the drum when the drum is in avertical position for beating a fabric carried by the drum.

3. In a fabric cleaning machine, a supporting member pivotally mounted on a horizontal axis to be swung in a substantially vertical direction, a fixed axle carried thereby and swinging therewith in a substantially vertical plane, a drum mounted on said axle to rotate around thesame, a fabric beating unit located adjacent the drum when the latter is'in a substantially vertical position, and means for causing the beating unit to beat a fabric on the drum.

l. In a fabric cleaning machine, a support, a supporting elementpivoted thereon to swing from a substantially horizontal to a substantially vertical position, an axle mounted on said supporting element to be normally fixed with relation to the supporting element, a second supporting element fixed with relation to said s p-port at a distance from the first named supporting element, and a drum rotatably mounted on said axle, the axle, when turneo into engagement with the second named supporting element, supporting the drum out of contact with the support and free to rotate about said axle, in combination with a beater mounted adjacent the position occupied by the drum when turned into a vertical position, said beater cooperating with said drum in the cleaning of fabrics.

5. Ina fabric beating machine, a substantially vertically extending axle, a drum on the axle and capable of rotating about same,

means on the axle supporting the drum for ready rotation thereon, beating means adjacent the drum for rotation in proximity thereto but out of contact therewith, and

means for operating thebeating means.

6. In a beating machine, a' pivotally mounted axle normally occupying a substantipping the axleand cylinder into a substane I,

tially horizontal position with the cylinder supported free of obstruction for substantially free rotation upon the axle, and means for lowering the cylinder into substantially horizontal positionand raising it into substantially vertical position.

8. A structure as definedby claim 7 having a beating unit in proximity to the cylinder when thelatter is in elevated position, and means for rotating the beater unit close to but out of contact with the cylinder.

9. In a-structure for the purpose indicated, a drum mounted to be rotated about a substantially vertical axis, means for supporting the drum in a vertical position, said drum being capable of free rotation when in an upright position and being pivotally mounted to be turned into a substantially horizontal position and, in that position, of having substantially free rotation, and

beater means for cooperation with the drum in its upright position. 7

10. A structure as defined by claim 7 in whichthe cylinder is provided at its upper end with vanes for causing a current of air to pass downwardly through the cylinder when it is being rotated about its vertical axis.

11. A structure as defined by claim 7 in which-the lower end of the cylinder is provided with an inwardly and downwardly inclined baifleto direct a current of air passing through the cylinder inwardly toward the axis and downwardly, said apparatus having means for directing a current of air downwardly therethrough. I

12. A structure as-definedby claim 7 hav ing means in connection with the cylinder for forcing air downwardly therethrough and means adjacent the bottom of the cylin-- der for collecting dust from the dust laden air passing downwardly through the cylinder,

-13. I11 a structure for the purpose indi-' cated, a support normally occupying a substantially horizontal position, an axle car ried by said support and normally occupying a substantially vertical position when the support occupies a horizontal position, a drum mounted on said axle for free rotation thereabout, said drum having means in connection therewith for causing a downward flow of air through the drtlm When the machine is operated.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name to this specification.

EMIL GARMSEN." 

